Once Slain
by Enchained
Summary: Arlamai, a Copper Dragon watches over her territory and finds a human with an unusual talent.


Author's Note: Another one of my short stories. Every bit is mine! Mine I tell you! MUAHAHAHAHA!!! Ah-em, sorry. Check it out. Joy'  
  
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Screet, screet, screet. "What is that sound?" Screet, screet. "Could it be them again? I thought I showed them last time. How dare they come up here again after I fried their whole army." Screet, screet, screet. "Be still, Arlamai. They taste just like over-baked turkey." She licked her scaly lips. "But, over-baked turkey tastes delicious. Especially if I am the one cooking it. Aye. Be still, my flesh and ravage them, my fangs. We must be still, for the humans must not hear us. Nay. No human must hear the steps of a dragon." Arlamai stretched her strong, powerful wings and settled them down again.   
  
The sun warmed her rough copper skin. She was lying in her den in the very deepest part of her cave. It sat upon a small cliff looking over a vast rocky canyon full of a steep and mountainous terrain. She was a large dragon. About 50 feet in length, a fair size. Two winding horns were etched into the back of her head giving a feared sort of appearance. Her spine, adorned by sharp tan spikes leading to the end of her long tail with two razor sharp blades at the tip.   
  
Arlamai raised her arm and scratched the arch above her eyebrow with an ivory talon. Her eyes scanned across her territory for the source of the sound. The screet screet that echoed. She could not sleep. Arlamai puffed a bit of fire from her nose in frustration. "Come out humans. Come out and let me feast upon your worthless flesh on bone. You have driven me away for the last time." She knew the humans could not hear her, for a dragon could only speak in their thoughts. It was to other Dragons like this as well.   
  
The humans had been claiming her cave for shelter ever since two mischievous Red Dragons chased her off. She was a Copper Dragon and not very strong when outnumbered. Arlamai growled when a rock was tripped off the ledge from the side of her cave. "I warn you. Leave now." She urged to them in her mind. "Leave before I snap at you. I will. I am hungry. I am hungry for anything at the moment." They wanted her skin, her bones, her fangs, and horns.   
  
She had no idea why, but that's what happened when a Dragon went down. Their fair natural weapons were stolen from them and their bodies were abandoned out to rot in the baking sun. The stench went looming for days. It disgusted Arlamai. The way Dragons mind their own business, besides Blacks and Reds that is, then they are shot at with spells and iron. Either taking a piece of their body or capturing them for riding. Arlamai yawned showing her massive teeth. "Let them come. Let them feel my teeth crunching their bones. Let them scream from the pain of their incinerating bodies. For messing with me. They will pay. With their lives." Arlamai had a way with words and it sickened her how much she could take a simple situation as this and make it sound as if it was the very last battle she was going to witness. Perhaps, someday, it would be. The last battle that is.   
  
A human clad in armor stepped out from the shadows. He was a handsome man, maybe 25 or so. He was young, with dark brown hair and had not yet learned his complete lesson for meddling in the affairs of dragons. "For you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup." Arlamai laughed.   
  
"Is that so?" The boy spoke. "You weren't thinking of eating me were you? That wouldn't be very nice." He grinned at her.  
  
He didn't appear to have any weapons at the moment and he was obviously alone. But he heard her. He heard her speak. No human could hear a Dragon speak. Unless he was a-?  
  
"You are a human, are you not? Or perhaps you are a Dragon singer." Arlamai rose to her feet, rocking the cave in the process. Her horns slightly scraped the roof of the cave.  
  
"Maybe..."  
  
"Answer me now, boy. While I decide what to do with you." Arlamai quietly sighed.  
  
"You won't do anything, Dragon. Coppers don't like to kill humans." He leaned against the cold stonewall of her cave.  
  
"You are too confident that I am a trustworthy Dragon. I am hungry. I have tasted the burning flesh of a human. How can you hear me speak, boy? Are you trained in the arts of Dragon Weyr or is this a spell?"  
  
"Give me will or give me grace, young Dragon. You have a life to live. I won't tell you my secrets and you will not tell me yours for I have no wish to know of you. Dragon, I came for one reason and that is to fight you."  
  
"You...fight me? Do not make me laugh!" Arlamai began to chuckle creating small bursts of fire from her open mouth.  
  
The boy grinned and yanked out a handful of some unknown sparkling dust. It appeared to Arlamai as a spell and so she quickly leaped up to escape the small cave. Just as she reached the outside, she felt herself stiffen and unable to move. Her body came crashing down onto a small creek below her cave. Cold water rushed across her exposed stomach. She still couldn't move for the life of her! Behind her, the boy slid down the canyon wall and walked up to her stiff head. He caressed her beautiful copper cheek with a gentle stroke.  
  
"I defeated you, Dragon. Now tell me your name and I will free you as long as you promise to not hurt me."  
  
"Who are you?" Arlamai whispered into the boy's small fragile ears.  
  
"Call me Kot."  
  
"I am Arlamai of the Seven. It hurts my pride deeply to say this but I give you a Dragon's word that I will not harm you."  
  
"Of the Seven? Do you mean the legendary Copper Seven? The guild?"  
  
"Aye. My mother and father were the keepers of the clutch. They are gone now."  
  
Kot nodded and casts a warm feeling spell across her body freeing her of the stiff coldness. Arlamai stretched her head and wings. Her rust glistened scales sparkled as bright rays of sunshine bounced off her form.  
  
"Arlamai is a very beautiful name. Even if it does belong to a Dragon." Kot straightened the bounds on his armor.  
  
"Kot is an interesting name for a human. Yes, Kot. What do you want with me now?"  
  
"You as a partner, my friend. I could use a good Dragon like you to hunt with me."  
  
"Hunt? Ha ha! Kot, you are a funny boy I say. I am a Copper Dragon and though my breed comes along great with a knight's skill, I wish to be free forever no matter what the cause. Understand, Kot. I do not want a human standing beside me as I try to step around. I might squish you." She laughed once again.  
  
"Then that would be a chance I would have to take."  
  
"Kot, you cannot just ask to be my partner. You have to prove to me that you are worthy. Let us play a game. Go away for a few days and search for something to impress me. If you find this something, then I will most certainly become your partner in return. If you do not fulfill this requirement then you will have to leave or I will be forced to scorch your soul." Arlamai joked. Kot nodded and then walked away until he was no longer in sight. Arlamai snickered to herself. "A human alongside a Dragon. I hope I live to see the day." She flew back up to her cave and entered, scrounging through her bone collections of Dragon and human alike. She was getting hungry. By this time, she was wondering if she could catch up with Kot and maybe pick him up off his feet, but she had given him her word and a Dragon never breaks his word.   
  
A smell passed through her nostrils. It was familiar and common. "Sheep..." Arlamai grinned and licked her lips. She hadn't had this dish in quite a while. "It seems that I do not have a sheep yet in my collection. What an addition it would be!" She examined the right wall of her cave and began to dig. She dug until there was a tunnel going down into a large room where her trophy room would be. Arlamai pushed the bones that littered her floor into the tunnel until they were all safely in the belly of her cave. Now the floor was clean for fresh pickings. She perched on the ledge of her cave and surveyed her surroundings. It was such a small place for such a large Dragon; even her horns could not fit in the cave without scraping chunks of rock off the walls. It was time to move. "Moving is dangerous. I must fight for my territory and I am not in the shape to fight a strong Dragon." She patted her stomach. "Putting on a few pounds really does not help either." Arlamai gripped the walls of the canyon and climbed down to the ground below her. The skeleton of an old Tan Dragon littered the ground. He was a formidable opponent, but not strong enough. He was wise and fair for an old man. The skeleton was stuck in the same shape of how he had died. With his mighty head lain on the ground and his legs and arms curled up under him. His wings had dissolved into a lush plain of flowers and grass and the skin picked off by vultures, maybe even a few hatchlings here and there. Arlamai nudged the skull with her nose. It no longer reeked of death. "You can have your home back, old man. Once I eat my sheep." She looked towards the sky and stretched out her great wings; letting the cool breeze lift her from the ground with one flap. Arlamai soared up high and past the clouds where no Blue Dragon would dare climb.   
  
She scanned the ground with her keen eyesight, searching for any sight or smell of a sheep. Yet, no delectable scent passed through her nostrils. Arlamai curled her claws and folded her wings slightly causing her to plummet towards the ground. This gave her an even better view of her surrounding territory. "Where have all the sheep gone today?" Arlamai pondered. Just as she had thought this; a sweet smell smacked her in the nose. It was the essence of sheep. She flew on ahead until she passed over a large field lush with that of daisies and fresh green grass. Grazing in the field were sheep. Arlamai perched upon a cliff to watch her prey before attacking. She had to pick a young ewe, fairly strong and swift. She didn't want to have to chase down her meal, only pluck it off the ground, as she would fly by. At last, she spotted the one she wanted and she took off with a tremendous speed. Arlamai approached her meal with a loud roar. Allowing the other sheep to run away from her massive jaws and leave the one she wanted to eat by itself. Arlamai growled; latching onto the plump little sheep with her claws. It screamed in pain then grew limp. Arlamai grinned and carried her prize back to her cave. She passed the old Tan Dragon then entered, carrying the sheep in her mouth with care. "Such a small morsel. I may have to catch another just to fill my stomach." After eating the sheep to her fill; she sent the bones down into her collection cave and stared down the hillside for any more sheep that might tread across the canyon's path. Soon after guarding the mountainside, Arlamai drifted off to sleep. She dreamt of a grassy field, the warm breeze flowing through her thin wings. The sun shone comfortably hot on her cheek. In the distance, she saw the young man Kot running towards her in slow-motion. He was bruised and bloody, his clothes torn and mangled. Kot fell to his knees and reached out to her. Arlamai felt a sudden urge to help him, but something was holding her back.  
  
"Arlamai!" Kot cried. "Arlamai help me!" Arlamai looked away in an attempt to drown out his continuous pleas for assistance. She couldn't any longer, and she began to rise. Kot screamed out his last whimper and was suddenly crushed by the massive red foot of a large Red Dragon. It was the dragon that had chased her so many years ago. The dragon that maliciously attacked her until she could no longer see out her left eye.  
  
"Why did you do it, Smote?" Arlamai screamed in her thoughts. "WHY? HE WAS ONLY A BOY!"   
  
"Boys grow up to be men and men grow up to be Dragon Hunters, Arlamai. Don't be a fool and trust these Humans. They make all of us weak! Weak, Arlamai!"  
  
"No! No! You're wrong!"  
  
"Am I, Arlamai? Tell me truthfully. AM I wrong?" His gaze was maddening. Arlamai didn't know how to respond to him. She felt willing to agree with his questions, but after replaying the ageless moments from long ago in her mind, she had a strong desire to furiously burst with dismay.  
  
"You're wrong and you know it!" Arlamai screamed. She suddenly awoke in a pool of sweat and panted in shock of her vision.   
  
"Did you have the dream as well, Arlamai?" Kot appeared in the doorway of her cave. He seemed fine enough. Not half-dead like in her dream.  
  
"Yes, was your view on the receiving end of the foot or more farther away?"  
  
"More like on the receiving end. I could see you and hear your calls. Then the foot came down and everything went pitch black." Kot brushed a hand through his hair and stepped into the cave to settle down on a rock. "It was frightening. The most frightening thing I have ever witnessed. My own self, dying. Getting crushed by some stupid Red Dragon. What an end."  
  
"At least you didn't have to bare the loss." Arlamai smiled. Kot returned this smile and waved as he walked out from the cave. "Kot. Please don't leave me." Arlamai whispered. Kot glanced back and stopped right before reached the entrance.  
  
"Arlamai. I would never leave you. Not even if you tried to kill me. I would never leave you and that is my word."  
  
"Thank you, Kot." Arlamai curled up into a ball, her tail tucked comfortably beneath her chin. Kot stood for a while watching her sleep. He then did something that never in his entire life he thought he would do. He leaned against the large dragon's softly heaving chest and fell asleep never feeling so safe...  
  
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Enchained: Hope you liked it. Please review! 


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